This invention relates to nose nozzles and more particularly to hose nozzles of the pistol grip type.
Pistol grip hose nozzles have been known for many years and have received widespread commercial usage in the last thirty years. The most prevalent type of commercial pistol grip hose nozzle embodies a rigid hollow nozzle body including a hand grip portion having its lower end open and interiorly threaded to receive a male hose fitting for communicating a source of water under pressure to the hollow interior of the hand grip portion. Extending forwardly at an angle from the upper end of the hand grip portion is an integral barrel portion having a forward end formed with an outlet orifice. A flow control rod is mounted within the barrel portion and includes a forward annular water shut off ring normally spring urged to engage a shut off washer disposed inwardly of the outlet orifice and a control stem extending through the orifice to vary the flow rate and discharge pattern in accordance with its relative axial position within the orifice. The control rod extends rearwardly outwardly of the barrel portion through a suitable seal and its rearward extremity is threaded to adjustably receive a knob thereon. An elongated actuating lever is pivoted to the nozzle in a position such that an elongated lower portion is normally disposed in rearwardly spaced relation along the hand grip portion of the nozzle body and a shorter upper portion is connected to move with the adjustable knob. Pistol grip hose nozzles of this type are disclosed in numerous patents, early examples of which are U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,536,167 and Des. 148,892.
Pistol grip hose nozzles of the type described above are manually actuated by manually gripping in one hand both the hand grip portion of nozzle body and the elongated lower portion of the actuating lever. The extent of the movement of the actuating lever by a simple squeezing action simultaneously determines the flow rate and spray pattern. When it is desired to maintain the flow rate and spray pattern at one position, it is necessary to hold the actuating lever in such position against the spring bias. Alternatively, the operator could flip a bail from its normal inoperative position into an operative position holding the actuating lever in an actuated position. The position of the control rod for that retained actuated position could be adjusted by manually adjusting the position of the knob.
Efforts have been made over the years to provide cost effective improvements which make pistol grip hose nozzles more convenient, more comfortable and easier to use. For example, more comfort has been provided by insulating the hand grip portion of the hose nozzle body. One such insulating arrangement which has received commercial acceptance is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,799,447. U.S. Pat. No. 4,776,517 discloses a presently commercially available pistol grip hose nozzle which not only embodies an insulating handle improvement but an additional improvement of convenience which facilitates use by replacing the long rearwardly disposed actuating lever with a simple one finger trigger actuation plus a thumb actuated trigger retaining member. Moreover, since the insulating function was obtained by mounting exterior shell parts over an interior water handling body, a desirable ornamental configuration could be readily imparted to the nozzle.
While the improved pistol grip hose nozzles described above have achieved commercial acceptance, there is always the need to provide more cost effective structures which perform commercially in a comparable or improved manner.